Greek and Roman Mythology exhibition
at TCC
reviewed by Alec Clayton
for the Weekly Volcano, Jan. 10,2013
 |
| Prometheus
Bound, charcoal by Ron Hinson, 40" x 30" |
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Urban Leda, charcoal on cardboard box, by
Melinda Liebers Cox |
 |
| Pan and the Three Graces, oil on screen, by William Turner |
 |
| Saturn Devouring his
Son, pastel, by Ric Hall and Ron Schmidt |
The Greek and Roman Mythology
exhibition at Tacoma Community College is outstanding. The operative word is
strength — depicted strength of character, purpose and ideology; beauty and
strength in the human body, and strong drawing and composition. There is also a
lot of humor and wisdom in the way these contemporary South Sound artists react
to ancient myths.
There are a few bland pieces, and I
can find fault in even some of the best pieces. For instance, Marsha Glazière’s
“Wingless Victory aka The Finish Line,” probably the most striking and powerful
piece in the show, has an illustrational quality to the drawing of the face and
hand that dilutes its strength. But there’s too much of greatness here to dwell
on minor shortcomings.
So I praise these outstanding
artists, starting with the aforementioned “Wingless Victory,” a knockout
acrylic and mixed-media relief painting based on the ancient “Nike of
Samothrace,” a Greek statue by an unknown artist circa 190 BC. The sure and
sensitive drawing, the lyrical lines of the woman’s torso and the seamless
manner in which the artist transitions from painting and drawing to relief
sculpture is breathtaking. The powerful thrust of the running figure epitomizes
speed even more emphatically than does the flowing robes and wings of the
original. This is one of two excellent works by Glazière in this show.
Adjacent to this is a wonderful
drawing by Melinda Liebers Cox called “Urban Leda.” It is a contemporary version
of “Leda and the Swan” with a crow instead of a swan perched on the hip of a
reclining nude. The figure is strong and sensual, and the drawing displays both
strong lines and sensitive shading. It is drawn on a flattened corrugated
cardboard box, and the natural property of the ribbed corrugation is used to
create nice textural effects.
Speaking of great drawing, Ron
Hinson has included three large charcoal drawings: “Birth of Adonis,” “Prometheus
Bound” and “Sisyphus.” These are among the most powerfully executed charcoal
drawings you’ll ever see, with wonderfully flowing gestural marks, rich blacks
and delicately teetering balance between figure and ground.
I really enjoyed looking at Sharon
Styer’s two photographs, “Waiting” and “Escape.” Both are photographs of
statues in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Hopper-like compositions.
I was also impressed with the lovely
red contours in the figures in William Turner’s “Pan and the Three Graces,” oil
paint on a folding screen. The lines are lyrical and the red accents peeking
out from around black figure on a gray background are like burning embers in a
dying campfire.
Margaret Doty’s “The Marriage of
Pandora and Narcissus” is sweet, frilly and feminine — not the kind of thing I
normally enjoy, but I like this one a lot. It is a wedding cake, square on the
bottom, probably made from a box incrusted with ceramic, with tiles, beads, and
flowers. The top layer is open and inside is a candy-red heart. I see it as a
lampoon of sweetness.
Finally, as usual, I enjoyed the
pieces by Ric Hall and Ron Schmidt, the team I have often written about that
collaboratively creates amazingly surrealistic pastel drawings. They have four
works in this show. All are very dark, mysterious and threatening in a humorous
way — most noticeable is their striking version of Goya’s “Saturn Devouring his
Son.”
There will be a panel discussion in
the gallery Jan. 16 from 5-6 p.m., and each of the artists will give individual
talks throughout the run of the show. A complete schedule of talks can be found
at http://www.tacomacc.edu/thegallery/.
[Tacoma Community College, Juried Local Art Exhibition, noon to 5
p.m. Monday-Friday, through April 19, Building 5A, entrance off South 12th
Street between Pearl and Mildred, Tacoma.]
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Like Vanguard, Erica Freas
(of RVIVR) uses black and white imagery on an album cover with a
hard-to-read title. Is the title Billy? I like that she combines the
black and white with a border of colorful flowers. Unfortunately, the
flower imagery on the back cover is overly sweet, and that's what I
expect to hear in the songs. I like the photobooth strips on the front.
Nicely done.
The Mosquito Hawk
eponymous album cover is a little bit '60s psychedelic and a whole lot
of art nouveau with some steampunk thrown in for good measure. The
drawing is clear and sharp with nice contour lines and bright, soft
colors. This cover makes me want to listen to the music.
Bison Bison*,
another eponymous album so far as I can tell from the cover, features a
strong, in-your-face image of a double bison face on the cover. The
drawing is excellent. The feel is dark, evil, powerful. I would expect
heavy drums and throbbing bass, screaming guitars and maybe some brass
backup. The back cover is even stronger than the front with an extreme
close-up of the bison faces in white on a brownish-orange background.
At first glance I did not at all like the Electric Falcons
cover with that strange photo of a dog with the furry, back-lit ears
like electronic static in a Frankenstein laboratory. But the more I look
at it the more I like it. It's a powerful image that speaks of frantic
and screeching sounds. I suspect that the music, like the cover image,
would be static-y and harsh and off-putting at first, but that if I
listened to it enough I'd grow to like it, but probably never be able to
understand the lyrics. I particularly like the subtle color differences
between the fuchsia letters on the tile, which color repeats in the
dog's ears.
Of the album covers reviewed, my favorite is Glass Elevator's Universum Gloria. It combines some of the best elements of Sgt. Pepper
and Peter Max and post-pop surrealism with even a touch of Hello Kitty.
I particularly like the bizarre orange eyeball on the front and the
playfully gruesome skeleton heads on the back. It's playful and colorful
front and back. It makes me think of Cat Stevens' soundtrack from
Harold and Maude. Catch them Dec. 28 at Le Voyeur in downtown Olympia.
With
Clayton's insightful impressions and these musicians often-hidden
messages in their lyrics and artwork, it goes to show that music, like
art, has a myriad of layers and complexity, and perhaps you can tell an
album by it's cover.
